Download

Story FileContains Alabaster.gblorbFor all systems. To play, you'll need a glulx interpreter - visit Brass Lantern for download links. (Compressed with ZIP. Free Unzip tools are available for most systems at www.info-zip.org.)

About the Story

The Queen has told you to return with her heart in a box. Snow White has made you promise to make other arrangements. Now that you're alone in the forest, it's hard to know which of the two women to trust. The Queen is certainly a witch — but her stepdaughter may be something even more horrible...

There are some eighteen possible endings to this fairy tale.

Some of them are even almost happy.

Alabaster is the result of an experiment in open authorship. Emily Short wrote and released the introduction to the story; John Cater, Rob Dubbin, Eric Eve, Elizabeth Heller, Jayzee, Kazuki Mishima, Sarah Morayati, Mark Musante, Adam Thornton, and Ziv Wities then contributed conversation text. Afterward, the game received further editing to improve continuity and add endings, and Daniel Allington-Krzysztofiak provided illustrations.

Off-Site Reviews

Jay is GamesA superlative piece of work, in certain ways Alabaster is somewhat different than the majority of interactive fiction that we have previously reviewed. While many IF games present a more-or-less linear plot to play through, complete with puzzles to solve, items to collect and so on, Alabaster's heart and soul lies in the conversation between the protagonist and Snow White.See the full review

The Independent Gaming SourceBut is the game a success? Well, my early impressions of the game is very favorable. The story and writing are, naturally, very good. I love the idea of unraveling characters through conversation and the way you must use this information to ultimately make a decision to trust one person or another.See the full review

Gamers With JobsAn interesting story which is told well – it's an investigation, you decide which questions to ask. The questions you ask determine the answers you get and they ultimately determine your fate. If you don't play much interactive fiction, this would be one to check out.See the full review